Men fight with hot sprays as steam well erupts in Larderello, Italy. Scalding vapor columns rising as steam well erupts. Men battle with hot sprays in the foreground. Hot sprays seen. Mountains in the background. Men pull rope under 320degree heat and try to control hot sprays. Scalding vapors come out from pipe.

Views of Italian military aircraft circa 1932, and of Prime Minister of Italy Benito Mussolini with other officers at Ferrara Airfield in Italy. Formation of biplanes planes in flight. Larger, slower bombers high in the formation and many smaller, faster, pursuit planes in formation below them. Large number of planes and fuel trucks parked on the airfield. They are all multiwing aircraft, except for one row of hi-wing monoplanes. Mechanics are seen working on the nose and propeller of one airplane. Benito Mussolini stands on a hill with many other staff officers and looks through binoculars. He points and discusses something with one of his Generals. Italian photographer in jacket and tie, wearing knickerbocker trousers, adjusts his camera and comes forward to take photographs. Mussolini continues his observations.

The Games of the X Olympiad held in Los Angeles, California. Women participate in the springboard diving contest during the summer olympics of 1932. A large crowd gathers to watch the games and cheer. Georgia Coleman does a layout back somersault dive into the water, then three other dives. Closeup view of a smiling Georgia Coleman, springboard diver. Next diver shown is Dorothy Poynton on the high dive, followed by closeup shots of Dorothy after her dives. Swimmers participate in the swimming championships, including American Eleanor Holm in competition with Bonnie Mealing from Australia in the Women's 100 meter backstroke. Closeup shot of Eleanor Holm outside the pool. Americans take the lead in the games. Men participate in the 2000 meter 8 oar she crew shell boat race. American team is made up of team from the University of California. The crew shell race underway on Alamitos Bay in Long Beach California. The University of California team surges at the end to beat the team from Italy. Oil rigs and oil derricks seen in the background on shore behind the cheering crowd watching the race. The men's crew team from the University of California Bears pose for cameras on shore after their victory.

'Retrospect' about the events that led to the present pattern of life in the United States. Host Douglas Edwards, an American television anchor speaks about the past events in America. Crowd of unemployed men gathering in bread lines after the 1929 crash and subsequent Great Depression. A man near a box of apples. The U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses a gathering. The kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the son of the aviator Charles Lindbergh in 1932. Bruno Richard Hauptmann, a German carpenter who abducted the child during the trial. The congressmen at the formation of the Lindbergh Law. Newspapers describe the apprehension or death of notorious mafia gangster criminals, such as Dutch Schultz and Baby Face Nelson. Huey Pierce Long, Jr. a American politician addresses people. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia appeals to the League of Nations, after his country is attacked by Italy under Mussolini. Adolf Hitler stands. Troops of the German army parade. Scenes from the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1937 as Spanish national forces battle against fascist rebel forces. Spanish Troops fire 75mm field artillery pieces. Bombs being dropped on the buildings. Spanish soldiers marching during the civil war. The Hindenburg disaster takes place on May 6th 1937: The German airship LZ 129 Hindenburg catches fire over the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester, New Jersey. Amelia Earhart the first woman aviator to fly solo holds flowers and is surrounded by people. She went missing in 1937. Cowboy philosopher Will Rogers, alone and with U.S. Vice President John Nance Garner and with aviator Wiley Post (who had patch over one eye). King Edward VIII of Great Britain, abdicating the throne for "the woman I love." People at the German-American Bund Nazi sympathizing gathering including the subduing of objectors on stage, in Madison Square Garden, New York. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, returning from meeting with Adolf Hitler in Munich in 1938. View of Adolf Hitler. German tanks on parade in World War II. an array of artillery guns on display. Railway guns being fired in WW2.

A horse show in Rome, Italy. People gather to watch a horse show. Horses run across the field past the spectators. Prime Minister of Italy Benito Mussolini looks at the horses during the show. Soldiers lead the horses past the audiences. Mussolini looks on. Well decorated horses pull carts. Italian couples ride on horse backs.

'Corps d'elite' celebration in Rome, Italy. King pays tribute to Bersaglieri. Statues and monuments. King of Italy Vittorio Emanuele III, Crown Prince Humbert II and Prime Minister Benito Mussolini stand with military officers and officials. They walk on road. People gather to celebrate. Dignitaries at balcony. People watch them.